Last week after being disappointed by a lackluster Puff Daddy piece, I reluctantly stayed tuned to catch a glimpse of BET‘s new series Inside The Label. The series was billed as a profile of some of the most successful labels in urban music history. For the premier, they chose to start off with Uptown Records and their exuberant young leader, Andre Harrell. I was pleasantly surprised with how well done the program was and how intricately they delved into the history of a label that I knew about but didn’t know a lot about.

One particular story that caught my eye was that of Dwight Myers, aka Heavy D. Being a west coast native, Heavy D wasn’t somebody that was spoon fed to my psyche at a young age by my father as was California legends; 2 Pac, Ice Cube, and Suga Free. Actually, other than the internationally known, “Now That We Found Love” which was in every TV show and movie, I had never heard anything by the man until maybe high school when I started getting curious. While his flow was always something I could always respect, being that I was such a lyrical junkie (Rass Kass, Mos Def, &  Common all had multiple songs on my MySpace page) his discography wasn’t something that I bumped on the regular.

I still don’t bump Heav on the regular but after watching the program last week, I instantly understood why everybody loved him so much. While Heavy D would tell you himself – rest his soul- that he’s not a pure wordsmith, he was far from musically challenged. Heavy was a genius.

Taking Harrell’s budding idea of New Jack Swing and adding his own suave flavor to it, Heav created a genre of Hip-Hop that people still attempt to replicate today. Heavy is also credited with helping take Uptown into the next era once his style was becoming outdated by convincing Harrell to sign boy wonders Jodeci. He’s even rumored to have pushed him to allow Puffy to intern. He was somebody that was ahead of his time musically and was somebody that seemed very selfless. In today’s era of “Me! Me! Me!” attitudes from artists, even towards label mates, many artists want the spotlight on them 24/7 as opposed to letting their teammates eat. Heavy seemed completely at peace with taking seat and letting Uptown stars Guy, Al B Sure!, and even Puffy get some shine and limelight. With such a smash hit, and being an Uptown veteran, Heavy could’ve exhibited a me first attitude but instead helped innovate Uptown into the legendary hit factory it became to be. Heav even decided to let a young snot nosed Notorious B.I.G. get some shine giving his first major appearance on “A Bunch of Niggas”

So with all that being said, Happy 49th Birthday and rest in peace to a pure legend. To fellow sleepers like me, take peek at his discography and see how much he influenced your favorite rapper’s flow.

Suggested Articles:

BET Network Takes us ‘Inside The Label’

Stylist Releases Throwback Images of Bad Boy Artists

The post Uptown’s Finest: Remembering Heavy D appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

We’ve all heard the stories of record labels and the ups and downs being contracted with one may cause.  Here and now BET network is taking us all behind the scenes of some of the greats.  Tonight, May 17th at 8:00 ET and 9:00 ET make sure to tune into the first part of the eight-episode-docs-series.  Uptown Records is the first up in the spotlight to dig into all the dirt, good and bad with a Part I and Part II episode of the journey.  Some of Hip Hop’s most iconic labels will be featured  in the eight-week series for one-hour long like, Grand Hustle, Loud Records, Slip-N-Slide, Terror Squad, Ruff Ryders, Disturbing Tha Peace (DTP), and Murder Inc.  

Founder, Andre Harrell will be among the industry insiders like, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, and Guy’s Teddy Riley and Damion Hall giving they’re unique takes on Uptown’s success, legacy, and so much more.  We can expect to see some never-before-seen footage in an up close, first-person narrative kinda way.  The series is executive produced by A. Smith & Co. Productions and DTP co-founders Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Bridges’ manager Chaka Zulu, and Jeff Dixon.

“The dreams and visions; the successes and failures … we want young aspiring entrepreneurs to have a blueprint as to what really goes on in this business and understand how much work it takes,” says DTP’s Dixon of the inspiration behind the series. “We [as African-Americans] also want to document our own history, especially in this industry. This is like our natural resource. No one can tell these stories like us.”

According to Billboard, these are some of the other power players that will be “playing” in each episode of Inside the Label:

Uptown Records: Andre Harrell, Diddy, Jay Z, Mary J. Blige, Babyface, Teddy Riley, Damion Hall, Brett Ratner, Laurieann Gibson, Robin Thicke, Sanaa Lathan, Doug E. Fresh, Al B. Sure, Eddie F, Kim Porter, Father MC, Jeff Redd and Monifah.

Grand Hustle: T.I., Jason Geter, Young Dro, Kevin Liles, Lil Duval, Killer Mike, DJ Toomp and B.O.B.

Loud Records: Steve Rifkind, RZA, Xzibit and E-Swift.

Slip-N-Slide Records: Ted Lucas, Rick Ross, Trick Daddy, Trina and DJ Khaled.

Terror Squad: Fat Joe, DJ Khaled, Noreaga, Cool & Dre and Jesse Terrero.

Ruff Ryders: Joaquin Dean, Darren Dean, Chivon Dean, Swizz Beatz, Eve, The Lox, Irv Gotti, Drag On, DJ Clue, DJ Kool Herc, Lyor Cohen and Jimmy Iovine.

Disturbing Tha Peace: Ludacris, Chaka Zulu, Jeff Dixon, Chingy, Bobby Valentino, Shareefa, Lil Scrappy, Bangladesh, Lil Fate, I-20 and Poon Daddy.

Murder Inc.: Irv Gotti, Ashanti, Ja Rule, Jay-Z, Charlie Baltimore, Kevin Liles and Lyor Cohen.

Suggested Articles:

According to Future…Jay-Z is Dropping a Summer Record

T.I. Teams Up with Dr. Dre for Aaliyah Sampled Single “Dope”

The post BET Network Takes us ‘Inside the Label’ appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.